Yuri enters the busy café and looks around to find the girl she’s supposed to meet. She sees her near the back of the place but decides to get her drink first. She walks over to the counter, orders, takes her done beverage before going to the table.

“Hi,” Yuri says as she takes the seat across Tiffany.

“Hey.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“Because your good friend is avoiding me,” Tiffany sneers.

“Ah, Taeng?”

“So you’ve heard.”

“That I did.” Yuri sips her drink.

“Did she tell you what’s going on with her?”

Yuri nods briefly.

“Can you please tell me? I feel like I’m going to suffocate from the suspense.”

“Sorry.” Yuri only smiles lightly. “I promised her not to tell.”

“Great. So everyone knows except me.” Tiffany leans back into her chair. She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

“Don’t blame her, Fany.”

“I’m not blaming her.” Tiffany deflates. “I just wish she would talk to me if there’s a problem instead of shouldering it herself. It concerns us, after all.”

“She isn’t doing this on purpose. She just needs some time to think about it, that’s all.”

“I know, and I’m giving her the time she needs.” Tiffany sighs. “It’s just that it’s frustrating for me, you know? I want to share her burden, if this is a burden. Or at least tell me about it if I did something wrong.”

“It’s not you, Fany. It’s on her end.”

Tiffany raises her brows.

“She thinks you’re wonderful.” Yuri chuckles. “The problem definitely doesn’t lie with you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Tiffany can’t help but let out a small grin on her face unconsciously when she hears what Yuri said. You think I’m wonderful?

Yuri sees the silly look on Tiffany’s face. “You two are so cringeworthy.”

“What? I’m not doing anything. She’s the one that’s being corny.”

“You might want to wipe that smile off your face before saying that.”

Tiffany clears to mask her embarrassment and straightens her face.

“Anyway, don’t worry too much. She likes you, that’s for sure. She has her concerns and she just needs to sort them out. Give her some time to come to terms with herself.”

“There’s nothing else I can do now besides that, right?”

“Unfortunately.”

Tiffany sighs.

“She may look like she’s carefree and all but she can be really hard on herself,” Yuri says. “And because she cares more about the people around her than herself, it makes it harder for her at times like this.”

“Why is your friend like this?”

“I don’t know either.” Yuri laughs. “But that’s what makes her even a greater person, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” Another unconscious smile. “She’s a very great person.”

“Okay, let’s stop talking about her before you start smiling like a creep again.”

“I am not smiling.”

“You totally are. Check the mirror.”

“Shush!”

The two continue catching up on their lives, none bringing Taeyeon up again so that Tiffany will stop worrying about her and what’s happening.

===

Tiffany wakes up and realizes what day it is. Two weeks has finally passed. God, these two weeks felt like two months. She grabs the phone from the table eagerly and checks for any messages from Taeyeon, but sees nothing. Her mood goes down again.

Maybe she is still asleep. She isn’t a morning person after all.

She manages to fight the urge to send Taeyeon a text. She places the device down and goes to prepare for work.

Hours have passed and Tiffany still hasn’t heard anything from Taeyeon. She is secretly glad that she has a few cases on hand to follow, taking her mind off the latter. She finally clears her work for the day and checks her phone again, only to see zero notifications from Taeyeon. She sighs. When are you going to text me, Taeyeon-ah?

Her thoughts are interrupted by the knocking on the glass door. She sees her colleague collecting a bouquet of flowers from the delivery man and looks back down at the file on her table, thinking it has nothing to do with her.

Her colleague approaches her table.

“Hey, it’s for you.”

“Me?” Tiffany gasps in surprise.

“Uh huh.”

“Thank you.”

Tiffany takes the bouquet from her colleague and places it down. She finds a letter among the flowers and her heart starts beating quicker as she takes it out to read it, a hunch telling her this is from the person she has been waiting for all day.

“Hi Fany,

First of all, I just want to say I’m sorry for disappearing on you for the past two weeks. I didn’t mean to do what I did, but I needed time to think, hence the disappearance. I’ll tell you everything right now.

Truth is, I’m really surprised that the feeling between us is mutual. Never have I thought that a, subjectively, very pretty girl like you will like me the same way. I mean, you did drop a few hints along the way but I didn’t want to assume. Oh, and by the way, I almost went nuts with all the hinting.

You may say that there is nothing in our way anymore since we both like each other, but that isn’t the case, Fany. The reality is that we are way too different on levels. You are an amazing girl who does well in school and has a job while I’m just a delinquent with a bleak future. I remember telling you this once. You draw on papers but I draw on walls. You buy chocolate bars but I steal chocolate bars. You avoid arguments but I take them right on. You go to school but I go to police stations. We’re so different, Fany.

And then you may say you do not care or that you do not mind, but I do. Because I care about you, so much, and that’s why I don’t want you to be with someone like this. I don’t want you to be with someone who would only disappoint you, you get what I mean? The last thing I want to do is to hurt and disappoint you.

Ever since you stepped into my life, you’ve changed it. I start thinking about talking to you for the entire afternoon instead of drawing on walls. I start thinking about wanting to protect my knees from being scrapped instead of escaping from shop owners. I start thinking about having movie nights with you instead of partying, which will most probably end with me in a police station after being involved in yet another fight. I start to only think about spending time with you.

You once asked if I regretted letting you into my life. I know I told you the answer back then but I want to tell you again. The answer is no. Hell no. Letting you in is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. You changed me for the better, something that even my relatives or friends can’t even do. To be totally honest with you, I’ve never expected myself to change like this either but I guess fondness makes you do everything, even you have once thought it’s impossible.

I like you, Tiffany Hwang, and that is why I’ll be leaving this country for the next three years. In fact, I’m probably already on the plane right now. I’m sorry for not s